This invention relates to printed wiring boards and particularly to a method of fabricating such boards.
Folded printed wiring boards have long been known in the art and have provided a highly advantageous means for minimizing space requirements in electronic packages employing printed wiring board circuits. Prior folded printed wiring board assemblies have been built with multiple rigid board sections bonded to flexible tape circuitry. Manufacturing such assemblies is expensive because the assemblies require special fixtures to support them and to provide the necessary degree of rigidity for the assemblies through the various manufacturing and assembly operations.
Therefore, it is an object to manufacture folded printed wiring board assemblies without special fixtures.
Another object is to make folded printed wiring board assembly inexpensively.
These and other objects are realized in an illustrative embodiment of the invention in which a method for fabricating a folded printed wiring board assembly has the following steps. First, an aperture is cut into a rigid board. Second, a flexible circuit tape is bonded to one side of the board so that the tape bridges the aperture. Third, a plurality of holes are perforated through the board and the flexible tape. Fourth, leads of electrical components are inserted through the holes. Fifth, the leads are conductively bonded to conductors on the flexible circuit tape. Sixth, two edges of the board are cut through the aperture; and seventh, the assembly is folded in the area of the aperture.
A feature of the invention is the cutting of two edges of the board through the aperture.
Another feature of the invention is folding of the board in the area of the aperture.